{"id":621484,"date":"2026-06-04T21:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621484\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:50:12","slug":"janette-manrara-confirms-departure-from-strictly-come-dancing-it-takes-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621484\/","title":{"rendered":"Janette Manrara confirms departure from Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\">\n<p>        4 June 2026\n    <\/p>\n<p>Janette Manrara has quit Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.<\/p>\n<p>                            <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"main-image\" class=\"img-responsive thumbnail landscape img-stretch\" itemprop=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/former-strictly-come-dancing-it-takes-two-host-janette-manra.jpg\" alt=\"Former Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two host Janette Manrara\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption landscape\">Former Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two host Janette Manrara<\/p>\n<p>The 42-year-old star &#8211; who was a professional dancer on the BBC Latin and Ballroom dance show from 2013 until 2020 &#8211; had fronted the spin-off programme since 2021, originally with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/rylan-clark\/\" class=\"exposure-link \" data-linktrack=\"LinkTracker,articleExposure,rylan-clark\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rylan Clark<\/a>, 37, and then Fleur East, 38, from 2023.<\/p>\n<p>In a YouTube video, Janette told fans: &#8220;Strictly Come Dancing has now changed hugely. I&#8217;m no longer a part of It Takes Two or the main show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll still be involved in other ways. But that just means that I&#8217;m free to pursue and do many other projects that I&#8217;ve always wanted to do and never really thought about doing. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Strictly is all I&#8217;ve known for the past 14 years, so it is a bit like, \u2018Oh, we&#8217;re going into a different world, a different space, how are we going to navigate that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nThe TV presenter &#8211; who has been married to Strictly Come Dancing pro Aljaz Skorjanec, 36, since 2017 &#8211; said the &#8220;big shift and change&#8221; in her life will &#8220;hit when I come back from my holiday&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\nJanette&#8217;s fans rushed to the video&#8217;s comments section to express their sadness at her departure, as one penned: &#8220;Sorry to see you leave Strictly, as Bruce would say, you were my favourite \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Saw you in Chicago in Southend though and you were great. Hope to see you on a stage again soon! (sic)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nA second supporter typed: &#8220;Sad you going from strictly I will miss you glad you back see you next week (sic).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd a third follower wrote: &#8220;Gutted you aren&#8217;t the new Strictly presenter&#8230;.too many opportunities waiting for you. Xx (sic).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nJanette&#8217;s departure from It Takes Two &#8211; which is reportedly being turned from a TV show into a video podcast &#8211; comes after pros Karen Hauer, 44, Gorka Marquez, 35, Nadiya Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk, both 36, and Michelle Tsiakkas, 30, were all axed as part of a big shake-up of the show for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\nFive new pros &#8211; who are yet to be announced &#8211; will be replacing them.<\/p>\n<p>\nLast month, Emma Willis, 50, comic Josh Widdicombe, 43, and ex-Strictly Come Dancing pro Johannes Radebe, 39, were announced as the show&#8217;s new presenters, following the departures of Tess Daly, 57, and Claudia Winkleman, 54, at the end of the 2025 series in December.<\/p>\n<p>\nEmma said: &#8220;It\u2019s no secret that I\u2019m a huge fan of Strictly &#8211; I\u2019ve cheered and danced along from my sofa for years &#8211; so to be stepping into the Strictly ballroom is something I can\u2019t quite comprehend.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;It\u2019s impossible to fill the shoes that Tess and Claudia have left behind &#8211; two wonderful, iconic women who have been the beating heart of Strictly for so long.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;I can only hope that we are able to help to steer the ship as beautifully as they have, into this new chapter. I can\u2019t wait to spend my weekends with Josh and Jojo, the incredible dancers and the judges. Fingers crossed for a 10 from them!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nJosh added: &#8220;Dancing the Charleston dressed as a penguin for the 2024 Christmas Special of Strictly remains my career high point, so I am giddy with excitement, honoured and a little overawed to be given the chance to step into the biggest shoes in television.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;I adore Emma and Jojo and can\u2019t wait to spend my weekends with them. I\u2019ll dust off the penguin costume.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd Johannes commented: &#8220;To be returning to Strictly Come Dancing in this new role is beyond anything I ever imagined. This show has always stood for joy, heart, and togetherness, and I feel deeply honoured to now help carry that magic forward.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;To do it alongside the formidable Emma Willis and the utterly brilliant Josh Widdicombe makes it even more special. I\u2019m ready-sequins, nerves, and all&#8230;please bear with me. Love Jojo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nStrictly Come Dancing is set to return in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 June 2026 Janette Manrara has quit Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. Former Strictly Come Dancing: It&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[108879,96496,54823,30849,96,210962,73011,210961,117799,128485,134117,175312,210963,33555,3953,50209,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-621484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-aljaz-skorjanec","tag-bruce-forsyth","tag-claudia-winkleman","tag-emma-willis","tag-entertainment","tag-fleur-east","tag-gorka-marquez","tag-janette-manrara","tag-johannes-radebe","tag-josh-widdicombe","tag-karen-hauer","tag-luba-mushtuk","tag-michelle-tsiakkas","tag-nadiya-bychkova","tag-rylan-clark","tag-tess-daly","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}